Mayssaa Allaw

Mayssaa,

One year. That is all we've had, and somehow it feels like a fact I cannot fully believe.

Because when I think about you, I don't think in months. I think in the way you walked into something that was already built and somehow made it feel like you had always been part of the blueprint. Like we had been missing a piece without knowing it, and then you arrived, and everything clicked into a shape that made more sense.

That is not ordinary. Most people take years to settle into your life like that. You did it without trying.

There is a specific kind of friendship that doesn't announce itself. It doesn't come with a big moment or a dramatic beginning. One day you look around and realize: this person is essential to me. This person has become part of how I think, how I work, how I move through the day. And you don't know exactly when it happened, only that it did, and that you're glad it did.

That is what happened with you.

CrashLens brought us into the same room, and the rest happened the way real things do, quietly, genuinely, without being forced. You showed up and you were just yourself, fully and without apology, and that was more than enough. It was actually everything.

A year that felt like forever is not a small thing, Mayssaa. It means something. It means you are the kind of person time bends around.

I'm grateful you were added to the team. Even more grateful you were added to my life.

With love,

Elia